Accusations flew between officials of Rochester’s Police Advisory Board on Wednesday as the acting manager called for the State Attorney General to Investigate his predecessor and half the staff signed a letter to the board demanding that he be fired. The board has an emergency meeting set for Thursday evening,
Meanwhile, City Council’s Vice President said council is watching the situation closely, and Mayor Malik Evans said it’s the council’s responsibility to handle the situation. This, in an organization that only recently began to do the work of investigating excessive force claims against police after more than a year of working up.
PAB Acting Manager Duane Bascoe called for the state investigation into suspended Executive Director Conor Dwyer Reynolds, saying Reynolds was still meeting with staff illegally after his suspension and causing problems with the agency. He said he wanted to address internal issues at the PAB through hiring a mediator and creating a five-person task force to address workplace issues.
Dwyer Reyonds in turn called Bascoe’s comments “ludicrous” and called on the PAB’s board to listen to 18 staff members who signed a letter calling for Bascoe to be fired. They say he encouraged an environment of “harassment, intimidation, retaliation and confusion” at the agency. That includes the firing of three staff members.
Mike Higgins, former Chief of Policy and Oversight for the PAB, told 13 WHAM he was fired after reporting his concerns that Bascoe showed up intoxicated for a staff meeting on October 3rd. He was fired October 7th.
City Council Vice President Willie Lightfoot told reporters that council is watching this closely, and cannot let the PAB continue to run hands off has it has requested. He said “we didn’t sign up for this.” Lightfoot said council are the responsible elected officials while the PAB leadership is appointed. But he said Rochester voted to have the PAB, so council has to find some means to make it work, probably through meetings with the community.